Justin Perriam | Principal
Tuia Burnside Primary is a contributing primary school (Years 1 - 6) of around 305 students. Our children individually bring a cultural richness with them, from at least 40 nations. Our school values celebrate this diversity. We provide an exciting, safe and welcoming environment for all, and our values of Excellence, Respect, Tolerance, Integrity and Compassion are evident in the ways we work together.
We are lucky enough to have moved into a new school site in term 3 2023. These spaces are warm, inviting and fantastic for learning in. We site share with Wairarapa Cobham Intermediate, and will share an administration block, while remaining as two separate schools. We will also have a satellite unit from Pītau Allenvale Special school attached. The new school buildings enhance our teaching and learning opportunities by being purpose built for 21st century learning.
Our learning-spaces provide rich and individual opportunities for children to develop their potential and to grow their learning. The New Zealand Curriculum provides a focus on Reading, Writing and Mathematics. Our Tuia Burnside Primary School Curriculum programmes build on these core areas by providing many opportunities for children in Arts, Science and Physical activity. Our teachers and support staff are committed, skilled and passionate, and they work together to provide the best learning environment possible for children. Teachers are professionally current in their teaching styles and value a strong partnership with parents and whānau.
We have carefully designed a local curriculum for our kura, focusing on our local area. We weave our cultural narrative through our curriculum, and our students learn about this and how it relates to them and their kura. We have special focus on science, oracy and literacy currently.
Alongside our mainstream classes, we have 50 students in French Bilingual education. This adds to the richness of our community. These students spend part of their day in mainstream classes, which ensures that they are integrated into all parts of our school
Our expansive, grass playing fields, and the several hard-court spaces, allow children to play and be instructed in a great number of games and sports. We are spoiled for green-space, and our staff have children regularly involved in physical activity that supports both competition and participation. Many musical opportunities are also provided for children, with instrumental and choir groups having tuition available. Cultural opportunities, events and celebrations reflect our diversity. Kapa haka, and a bilingual provision in Te Reo are choices offered to whānau and students also.
We offer many extracurricular opportunities to our students. Band, chess, Children’s University, sports, hip hop, aerobics and origami are some of the many clubs and teams that our ākonga can participate in. There are also varied and targeted support opportunities for those students who need extra support in their learning, and enrichment classes for students who need to be extended in various learning areas.
Tuia Burnside Primary School has recently been gifted the name Tuia from Ngāi Tahu. Tuia means to ‘weave together’ and we think that this is a perfect name for our kura. At the forefront of our thinking is bringing everyone together: staff, ākonga, whānau and our community.
We love our kura and we look forward to welcoming a new tumuaki into our whānau.
Justin Perriam
Principal